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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. firm — a company
  7. shower — rain
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. cold — not warm
  10. mine — for digging
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. firm — decided
  15. season — in sport
  16. season — of the year
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. bat — the animal
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. cold — an illness
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. firm — steady

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com